StevenBourque.com

Today I learned a valuable lesson. It came in the form of a very vivid image. I’ll tell you the story behind the image first. Then I’ll share the profound lesson.

My family woke up today just like normal. One of my first tasks for the day was to change Josiah’s diaper.

I soon discovered that it was very full, so full in fact, that it was spilling out of his diaper and down his legs. Try, if you can, to engage with this story as much as possible to get the full effect. As I opened the diaper and noticed the pile that Josiah placed in there I became very animated, but not with excitement. I thought I might throw up. I tried to keep wiping, but each time I turned to see what I was doing my body reacted. Yes, the smell, the appearance, the mess was all making me gag. Should I describe what it looked like? … Ok, I’ll spare you the details.

Now my gagging was very humourous for my little man. He laughed the whole time. Sonora, my precious little girl, was a little more sympathetic, asking if I was going to throw up. Well, thankfully, I made it through without making another mess, but this story is still not over.

So, because of the nature of the mess, Josiah had to go. No, I wasn’t giving him away, he had to go in the bath tub. He needed lots of water and soap. I went away for a minute and then came back to discover the tub was now filled with floaters. Yes, little bits of carrot, beans and such, you know last nights dinner. (Oh, sorry, I said I was going to spare you the details. Again, it’s helpful for you to engage for the full effect.)

Now the dilemma for a simple poop in the tub is fairly simple. This however, was an outright nasty situation! I had Josiah press the plug to drain the water, which took a little while. Once it was drained I showered him and soaped him and rinsed him. All this waiting for poor little dude made him shiver too. Well, I got him out and dressed with a little help from Daph. Then I wiped up the tub. Bleeaaugh!

Now wasn’t that a great story. I’m posting just in time for dinner too!

Ok, the lesson. Later today I saw a tweet from Rick Warren. He was quoting John Calvin. It said,

I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.

So Josiah’s loose bowels becomes a lesson for not only me, but also all of the 2 of you who might read this blog. Oh, and God gave me loose bowels today as well as if to firm up (get it?) the lesson in my mind. So whenever you get the urge to spout off carelessly, remember my little story and keep others clean please!